Unlocks, Cheats, and Secrets in Gears of War 3

Let’s Talk Cheats

Unfortunately for all you amoral scoundrels out there, what we typically think of for cheat codes simply do not exist for console versions of the game. PC players may be able to play with the console, but that’s a whole other issue. Console players have to deal with the built-in modifiers and unlocks, and activate them in just the single pre-planned way. You won’t be putting in code sequences in a text box, or mashing button combinations before certain logos appear at startup, but there’s still plenty to access. Sad? Sure, cheat codes were fun back in their day. Nowadays though, especially with the advent of achievements, things are more tightly regulated. So what is there to unlock in Gears of War 3? Read on and find out.

Mutators

Mutators are game mode changes. They have various effects - such as vampire mode, where health doesn’t regenerate and you gain health by doing damage, to larger explosions, to Big Head mode. They’re the closest things you’ll get to actual cheat codes these days. Below are the mutators, what mode they work for, and how to unlock them.

• Big Explosions - (Any Mode) Earn 100 Hail Mary ribbons via getting kills with the Boomshot at 200+ feet.

• Big Head - (Horde Mode) Earn the Gold-tier Hoarder medal.

  

• Comet - (Versus Mode) Earn the Gold-tier Shock Trooper medal.

• Enemy Regeneration - (Arcade Mode) Earn the Silver-tier Aficionado medal.

• Flower Blood - (Arcade Mode) Earn the Silver-tier King of Cog medal.

• Friendly Fire - (Co-op Campaign) Finish Co-Op with a full four players.

• Infinite Ammo - (Horde Mode) Earn the Combat Engineer ribbon 100 times in Horde mode.

• Instagib Melee - (Beast Mode) Score 200 kills as a Wretch

• Laugh Track - (Any Mode) Earn the Bronze-tier Tour of Duty, For the Horde, I’m a Beast, and Warmonger medals.

• Must Active Reload - (Any Mode) Earn the Silver-tier Active Reloader medal.

• Pinata - (Beast Mode) Earn the Gold-tier Investor medal.

• Super Reload - (Versus Mode) Earn the Bronze-tier Master at Arms medal.

• Vampire - (Versus Mode) Earn the Executioner ribbon 100 times.

Unlockable Playable Characters

One of the fun things to do in the online multiplayer is play as different characters. In fact, one of the achievements is to play a certain number of matches as a female character from the games. Obviously you must have a female character unlocked to do that, don’t you? Here are the characters you can unlock and how to unlock them.

Level Up Characters - These can only be unlocked by progressing in the ranks of multiplayer and leveling up. Other than that they have no requirements.

• COG Gear - Reach Level 2

  

• Miner - Reach Level 3

• Samantha Byrne - Reach Level 4

• Beast Rider - Reach Level 5

• Dizzy Wallin - Reach Level 7

• Hunter - Reach Level 8

• Jace Stratton - Reach Level 10

• Theron Guard - Reach Level 12

• Clayton Carmine - Reach Level 14

• Classic Dom - Reach Level 17

• Spotter - Reach Level 20

• Classic Cole - Reach Level 23

• Flame Grenadier - Reach Level 26

• Classic Baird - Reach Level 30

• Benjamin Carmine - Reach Level 34

• Grenadier - Reach Level 39

• Civilian Anya - Reach Level 45

• Colonel Hoffman - Reach Level 50

• Hunter Elite - Reach Level 60

• Anthony Carmine - Reach Level 75

In-Game Unlock Characters - Unlock these characters by completing achievements, earning ribbons and medals, and finishing the campaign.

• Unarmored Marcus - Finish the campaign on any difficulty level

  

• Golden Gear - Unlock the bronze War Supporter Medal

• Classic Marcus - Unlock the silver Veteran medal

• Chairman Prescott - Unlock the silver Allfathers Medal

• Superstar Cole - Unlock the gold MVP medal

• Aaron Griffin - Unlock the Big Money Onyx Medal / OR ‘Like’ the Gears of War 3 Facebook page

• Sniper - Unlock the bronze Headshot medal

• Golden Miner - Unlock the gold Rifleman medal

• Golden Hunter - Unlock the gold Master-at-Arms medal

• Kantus - Unlock the gold Medic medal

Pre-Order Bonus Characters - You can only earn these for preorders with the specific edition and store, or by playing in the beta for Cole Train.

• Mechanic Baird - Preorder bonus (Best Buy)
• Commando Dom - Preorder bonus (GameStop)
• Adam Fenix - Preorder bonus (Gears of War 3 Limited or Epic Edition)
• Cole Train - Play the multiplayer beta
• Savage Grenadier Elite - Preorder bonus (Walmart)
• Savage Kantus - Preorder bonus (Amazon)

Other Game Unlocks

There’s still plenty to unlock. You can earn the Insane Difficulty level by beating the campaign on any difficulty. Even easy counts. Additionally there are a bunch of different weapon skins you can unlock.

• Liquid Metal weapons are Epic and Microsoft employee exclusives. You can potentially buy them in the future, but not yet.

• Team Insignia weapons are earned from playing matches. Play 400 to unlock them all.

  

• Crimson Omen weapons come from various achievements. Lancer from the 12+2 XBL promotion, Hammerburst for surviving all 12 Beast Mode waves, Retro Lancer for surviving 10 Horde waves, Gnasher for killing 12 enemies in versus, and Sawed Off Shotgun for completing 5 chapters in arcade mode.

• Infected Omen skins are only available in the Epic Edition or the console/controller bundles.

• Gold Omen skins come from reaching level 100.

• Onyx Skins come from earning 6,000 kills with a given weapon.

• Chrome Skins come from achievements in previous gears games.

Isn’t That Enough?

That’s a lot of unlocks, and to earn them all will take quite a bit of time. In fact, a good portion of it is progress towards Seriously 3.0, if you’re farming for that.

Be sure to let us know if some of these methods are incorrect or updated, and tell us if there are any new unlocks we missed! Just leave a note in the comments, and we’ll check it out.

References

• User’s Own Experience
• Information from IGN Cheat Database.
• Images Copyright Epic Games